Tag Archives: prachanda

Before calling Baburam a democrat, Prachanda should answer the following questions:

By Siromani DhunganaUWB

Speaking at the seventh General Convention of the UCPN (Maoist) in Hetauda on February 2, comrade Prachanda, after encouraging his followers against main opposition Nepali Congress, posed a close-ended question to his cadres: “Is Baburamjee against peace and constitution? Is he an undemocratic leader?”

His cadres clapped and laughed but did not dare to answer because it was a close-ended question and Maoists cadres are not free enough to oppose their headquarters.

Dear comrade, yes you and your fellow incumbent Prime Minister (Baburamjee) both are indeed undemocratic leaders. Your deputy has dual character. He talks about uplifting lives of the poorest of poor but in practice he does nothing for them. In an interview with the Indian newspaper DNA, he says:

Q: Yet, Maoists in India are popular with the poorest and with many intellectuals, including the likes of Anuradha Ghandy, whose memorial lecture you will be delivering. So why did it not capitalise on this support?

A: (Smiles) I think this is for the Marxists and Maoists of India to asses as to why they failed to make an impact. But seeing this from a theoretical level, parliamentary democracy does not address the problems of the poor masses and people in backward countries like India and Nepal. There is too much disparity, with one section enjoying the fruits of democracy and the majority in the country — the dalits, the tribals, the women, the poor — are deprived of their genuine democratic rights. This contradiction is there. I think the radical communists are trying to champion the cause of the downtrodden.

Comrade Prachanda, your deputy thinks ‘parliamentary democracy does not address the problems of the poor masses and people in backward countries like India and Nepal’. So, which is the most suitable model of democracy for a country like Nepal? Continue reading →

LEFT TO RIGHT: Sita Dahal, her husband Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Dr Baburam Bhattarai and his wife Hisila Yami pose for a photo before heading to what is now known as the historic Chunwang Baithak (meeting) in Chunwang, Rolpa in 2005. Pic via Dinesh Shrestha

While Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has been meticulously following the austerity measures in a bid to create a better image of his government, his wife Hisila Yami, a prominent leader in the Maoist party, seems to be swimming against the current. Sources said many of her recent acts watered down her husband’s resolves.

¶1. (S/NF) During his November 16-18 trip to Singapore, Maoist
Chairman Pusha Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” met Nepali Congress
leader G.P. Koirala, Indian diplomats, and Chinese officials.
Maoist head of international affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara
and Nepali businessman Dinesh Manandhar accompanied
Prachanda. Manandhar (strictly protect) told Emboff November
30 that the Singapore-based telecommunications company Smart
Telecom paid for airfare (business class), vehicle rental
(BMW), and hotels (Four Seasons) for the Maoist delegation.
Manandhar — who is personally close to Mahara but says he is
not a member of the Maoist party — is the local Nepali
partner of Smart Telecom, and handled logistics for the
delegation. He did not participate in the meetings. Continue reading →

Prachanda, Baidya men clash in Kavre. Is the Maoist party on the verge of split? If yes, when?

The intra-party rift in the UCPN (M) has widened further with the faction led by Senior Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya on Friday (today) announcing a nationwide campaign against the party decision to hand over the keys of arms containers to the Special Committee. Defying calls by the party leadership, the Baidya faction decided to launch a “national awareness campaign” starting Saturday (tomorrow). Leaders from the faction told Republica newspaper that they would paint walls and hold corner meetings to protest the party establishment´s decision to hand over the keys of the arms containers to the Special Committee. Baidya and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa on Friday (today) evening issued a statement demanding that the party chairman and the government scrap the decision.

Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal invited a select group of editors to his Nayabazaar residence last Wednesday. Expectations ran high, even though Dahal’s office had pitched the meeting as “a regular exchange on current affairs.”

The Maoist party, as it turned out, came up with a detailed proposal on integration and rehabilitation of ex-combatants the next day—the first such document since the peace process started in 2006.

Despite the perceptible decline in his stature in recent years, Dahal still remains the most important political figure in the current transition. His stated ideas and implied messages become subjects of heated debates and raging controversies across the country. Continue reading →

Prime Minister-elect Baburam Bhattarai, right, and his party the UCPM Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" emerge out together after the former was declared the winner in the Prime Ministerial race in the Constituent Assembly today.

Baburam Bhattarai

Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has been elected the new, 35th, Prime Minister of Nepal. The speaker of the Constituent Assembly, Subash Chandra Nembang, declared him the winner in an election that saw Ramchandra Poudel challenging Bhattarai. Dr. Bhattarai is the vice-chairman of the party and was the finance minister in the Maoist Chairman Prachanda-led government two years ago. He secured 340 votes vs Poudel’s 235 votes out of 594. Continue reading →

Video Report

The normal life in the Kathmandu Valley [and across Nepal] has been hit hard on the first day of the indefinite general shutdown imposed by the Unified CPN (Maoist) on Sunday demanding resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Hundreds of Maoist cadres and supporters have gathered at the major thoroughfares and junctions in the Capital since early morning to enforce the shutdown, more popularly known as banda. Continue reading →

In what will go on the pages of the history books as one of the most important days of Nepal, Maoist revolutionary (and leader of an outfit that was branded terrorist until two years ago) Pushpa Kamal Dahal (aka Prachanda) has been elected the Prime Minister of Nepal by a majority of votes in the Constituent Assembly this evening. Nepali Congress, second largest party in the assembly, was the opponent that filed separate candidacy. Sher Bahadur Dueba, senior Congress leader and three time prime minister, was defeated (he got 113 votes vs 464 of Dahal). Many other fringe parties supported the Maoist led alliance that included third largest CPN UML. Chairman of the CA in his capacity as the Speaker of the House of Representative announced the results a few seconds ago. Continue reading →

Like this:

Maoists burn down Chairman Pranchanda’s effigy in Rautahat: CPN-Maoist activists of Rautahat district today burnt down the effigy of party Chairman Prachanda and demanded for his resignation in protests of the inclusion of no nominees from the district by the party leadership in the closed list for proportional representation system. This is the first incident of open protests against Maoist Chairman Prachanda by activist from his own party. Continue reading →

The following is the press release issued by the American embassy in Kathmandu today:

U.S. Ambassador Powell Meets with CPN-M Chairman Pushpa Dahal

U.S. Ambassador Nancy Powell met yesterday with CPN-M Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to discuss the outcome of the April 10 elections, CPN-M plans for the Constituent Assembly, and the future of U.S.-Nepal relations. This was their first meeting. The meeting occurred in advance of Powell’s return to the United States for consultations on U.S.-Nepal relations.

Powell provided an overview of current U.S. government assistance to Nepal designed to help create a more prosperous, democratic, and stable Nepal. She sought assurances that the new government would respect current donor agreements and ensure the safety of those implementing them.

She encouraged Dahal to ensure that all Maoist organizations illustrate their commitment to the political process through their words and actions.

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